The aim of this study is four fold: (1) to determine Middle East Technical University (METU) students&rsquo / familiarity and current understandings of sustainable development, and their views on sustainable living at the campus / (2) to explore their attitudes toward sustainable development, behaviors toward sustainable life styles, and environmental values / (3) to examine their perceptions of their own and society&rsquo / s future / (4) to investigate the significant predictors of their environmental values, and attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable life styles. In addition, Faculty of Education students as future implementers of sustainability education were under investigation with regard to sustainability concerns.
The data were collected by online administration of measuring tool to 958 METU students in February-June of 2008. This measuring tool was also administered to 688 Faculty of Education students in classroom environment by the researcher. The results showed that there exist some knowledge gaps in university students&rsquo / perceptions toward different aspects of sustainable development. Furthermore, the respondents had favorable attitudes toward sustainable development and intrinsic values toward the environment. However, looking at the personal behavioral changes, their preferred individual ways of living were not necessarily coherent with sustainability. The results revealed that female students having higher tendency to follow media held more favorable attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable life styles, and more intrinsic environmental values. Moreover, attitudes and values were found to be significant determinants of university students&rsquo / behaviors toward sustainable life styles. Interestingly, Faculty of Education students&rsquo / attitudes were not significantly related to their behaviors toward sustainable life styles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12610156/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 November 2008 |
| Creators | Sahin, Elvan |
| Contributors | Ertepinar, Hamide |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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